October 20, 2011

Driving While Under the Influence of a Pterosaur

In the United States, some pterosaur eyewitnesses may have been looking out a livingroom window; others, fishing or taking a walk; more were driving a car, a common American pastime. But could the driving have distracted eyewitnesses from observing pterosaurs?

Two weeks ago, Americans (at least a few Americans) observed Drive Safely Work Week; this week, it’s National Teen Driver Safety Week. I doubt we will ever have Drive Safely While Witnessing a Live Pterodactyl Week. But in the United States, driving may be the most common activity when someone sees an apparent living pterosaur (probably because most Americans are usually indoors when they’re not in an automobile). Within a period of about three years, I received reports of at least ten sightings involving driving, in seven states: South Carolina, California, Wisconsin, Michigan, Kansas, Ohio (3), Georgia (2). With sighting dates from about 1980 to 2007, one involved driving a tractor, the rest involved driving a car.

In a 2009 press release, the cryptozoologist Jonathan Whitcomb estimated that at least 1400 Americans have seen a living pterosaur between 1980 and 2008. After a number of cryptozoologists objected to the speculative nature of his estimate, Whitcomb maintained that sightings are far more common that the few news reports, in the late twentieth century, would suggest. He emphasized that many eyewitness are reluctant to tell anyone that they have seen a living “pterodactyl.” Some eyewitnesses, however, report their strange encounters to Whitcomb, whose web pages and blogs dominate the internet.